The Buddy System
by Sareki02
Summary: Set between Caretaker and Parallax, Harry tries to help B'Elanna become 'part of the team.' Written for Delwin for VAMB Secret Summer 2015.


Summary: Set between Caretaker and Parallax, Harry tries to help B'Elanna become 'part of the team.' Written for Delwin for VAMB Secret Summer 2015.

Author's Note: This story was written to Delwin's fabulous prompt for VAMB Secret Summer 2015:

"An early Voyager story set in the stretch of weeks between Caretaker and Parallax featuring Harry with Tom, B'Elanna or both. Angst or fluff level at the discretion of the author; technobabble and hints of proto-P/T always appreciated but not necessary. Friendship only otherwise please."

I really enjoyed writing this story and I hope she enjoyed reading it. Thanks, Delwin, for all the hours spent betaing my other works!

Many, many thanks must also go to RSB for all her help betaing and hand holding… both on this story and in life. And also thanks to Photogirl1890 for altering me to a slew of typos.

 **The Buddy System**

"My God! Are there enough backups on this plasma flow regulator? Do you have any idea how much power this many redundancies uses?"

Harry turned at the sudden burst of noise. All he could see were a pair of boots and the calves they were attached to sticking out of the deck. Somehow, B'Elanna's had gotten most of her body down into the next Jefferies tube without removing the deck plating. _There is a safety violation right there_ , he thought, although he was somewhat envious that she was small and flexible enough to even get into that position.

"And what kind of fool keeps the flow pressure so low!? My God, we are wasting all our energy compressing this damn plasma! At least tell me we are using the expansion work for something useful."

Harry wasn't exactly sure if he was supposed to be answering her questions, or if she was just ranting again. _He_ knew the reason the plasma was kept at normally low pressures was so that if there was a breach in the conduit, the explosion would be minimized.

But he wasn't sure B'Elanna really wanted him to tell her that at the moment.

Harry thought back to just a couple days ago, when the captain had announced her new plan. Each former Maquis would be paired up with a Starfleet officer who would help them make the transition into the Starfleet way of life. Harry had specifically asked to be paired with B'Elanna… thinking that a friendly face might make this transition easier for her. He was her 'Starfleet buddy.'

Suddenly, a black and yellow jacket flew out of the opening, followed quickly by a grey turtleneck. _Another violation_ , he thought automatically as he heard her mutter about how uncomfortable the uniform was.

Was she just trying to break as many regulations as possible? Or to make his life as difficult as possible?

"Um, B'Elanna?" he ventured.

The clanging in the hole stopped and she pulled herself back onto the deck. "What, Starfleet?"

He cleared his throat, trying to ignore the fact that she was now clad only in the regulation tank top. "Well, I just thought maybe this was a good time to bring you up to date on some regulations. You know, just in case—"

She cut him off. "What, like that I'm out of uniform and not performing these repairs 'safely'?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "You know?"

"Of course I know," she huffed. "I just don't care." She gestured to the uniform. "That piece of shit is uncomfortable and keeps getting caught on crap. I'm better off without it. And as for safety..." she paused. "Look, I don't want to get hurt as much as the next person, but I know what I'm doing and I know my limits. I can fit in here like this, and it's a hell of a lot faster than the several hours it would take to expose that regulator and repair it. This way we'll be done before lunch."

"Yeah, but, the rules are there for a reason," he argued.

"The rules were written by jack-asses that are seventy thousand light years away."

Harry took a deep breath. Didn't she understand that this was still a Starfleet ship? He thought Captain Janeway had made that _very_ clear. "Yes, but the captain said—"

B'Elanna interrupted him. "Look, if you don't want to get in trouble, leave. But I'm not going to waste my time with stupid rules."

Harry watched as B'Elanna slithered back into the opening of the tube. He had never met an engineer that had such flagrant disregard for rules and regulations. What was her problem? Did she really hate rules _that_ much? Why was she acting out like this?

It suddenly hit him. She was acting out! Maybe this wasn't about the rules. Maybe this was about something else.

He decided to take a stab in the dark. "Look, B'Elanna," he said, trying to sound as open and honest as possible. "This isn't easy for any of us."

The noise stopped. She extracted herself from the hole again and gave him a long look. "What do you mean by that?" she finally inquired.

"I just mean that spending the rest of our lives, trying to get home… this isn't what any of us had planned. I mean, it kills me when I think about never seeing my friends and family again."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the tube as B'Elanna stared at him. "Oh," she said, and then awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure, um, that everything will work out."

And with that he watched as she almost literally dove back into the tube.

 _Well, that didn't work,_ Harry thought with a sigh. Maybe nothing was bothering her… but as her 'buddy,' it was his responsibility to find out if there was and to help her integrate.

So Harry made a decision: he would do whatever was necessary to make B'Elanna Torres part of the team.

=/\=

"Where are you off to with that whiskey? And more importantly, is it real?"

Harry turned at the sound of Tom's voice. The pilot was making his way towards him, his eyes glued on the bottle in Harry's hand. "I'm going to see if Torres is home… and no, it's replicated."

Tom's brow furrowed. "Torres? The Klingon engineer?"

"Yeah, her."

Tom suddenly let out a laugh and slapped Harry on the back. "Well, good luck with that," he said, before continuing down the corridor.

Harry shook his head. _What in the world was that all about? No matter_ , he thought as he approached her door. Harry and his synthehol were ready to do whatever it took to make B'Elanna feel like part of the team. He reached out to ring the chime and a moment later the doors slid open to reveal B'Elanna, dressed in a tank top and shorts.

She looked utterly confused that he was standing there.

"Hey, Starfleet…" she said, her voice trailing off as her eyes focused on the bottle of liquor. "Um, what's up?" She leaned against the door, crossing her arms in front of her.

Harry cleared his throat. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight."

B'Elanna's eyebrows furrowed. "Hang out?" she asked, not sounding very receptive to the notion.

"Yeah, you know, talk… drink," Harry replied nervously, and held out the bottle with the last word.

There was an awkward moment as they both stood there, just staring at each other. Harry gave her a hopeful little smile. B'Elanna continued to stare. Finally, she broke the silence. "Um, look, Ensign Kim…"

 _Ensign Kim?_

"You seem like a nice guy, and any woman would be lucky, really, to—"

Her words were drowned out by the sudden rush of blood to his ears. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no," he said, waving his arms and shaking his head.

B'Elanna looked slightly shocked at his emphatic response.

"You've got it wrong!" he cried. _Oh gosh, she thought I was trying to sleep with her! That is NOT appropriate buddy behavior!_ Trying to recover, he stammered, "I'm not trying to… um, you know… I mean, not that you aren't a lovely person…"

She waved him off, dismissively. "Hey, I was just letting you down easy, you don't have to do the same for me. But, really, why are you here with liquor if not for… that."

"I just…" Suddenly, Harry felt awkward standing outside her door with his bottle of booze, having finally realized how this all looked. "Um, can I come in?"

B'Elanna stepped aside to allow him to enter. "Have a seat, Harry," she said, putting an emphasis on his name.

He sank into the couch, setting the bottle on the table. B'Elanna sat as well, in the chair across from him. "B'Elanna…" he paused, suddenly remembering his plan. "Do you want a drink?"

She looked from him to the bottle. "No."

 _Wow, could this be going any worse?_ "Oh, okay. Well, I just… I wanted to talk about earlier today."

B'Elanna shot up, angrily. "Is this about those damn regulations again?! Carey already chewed me out, I don't need another lecture from you!"

Harry stiffened and his eyes went wide. _Oh crap, it is worse!_ "Um, no, please… I just… Look I'm your buddy!" Harry said, desperate to recover and get this conversation moving in the right direction.

B'Elanna looked down at him, her anger turning to confusion. "Like, we're friends?"

"No, I mean yes, but-" _Get it together!_ Harry took a deep breath. "You know how we got paired up?"

She sat back down again, seeming to relax a bit. "Yeah."

"Well… I'm here for you! I want to help you be as successful as possible on this ship… and, you know, sometimes that means telling you that you have to follow the rules." She looked about to argue with him again, but he held out his hand. "But it also means you can talk to me about anything. I just want to help you."

She laughed derisively. "Help me? Good luck!"

Harry looked at her, unsure what to make of that comment. But it did seem to indicate his first instinct had been correct, something was bothering her. "B'Elanna, seriously… is everything okay?"

He watched as B'Elanna looked away and started to pick at the loose threads on her chair. "Yeah, Harry, everything is fine… I just… I've never been good at… all this. It takes me a while to get used to… new situations."

Harry nodded, in some ways understanding. He'd never been away from home for very long before, and now he may never get home again. His stomach ached at the thought, and he tried to push it away. "Well, just let me know what I can do to make it easier."

B'Elanna looked up, her eyes meeting his. For a moment, Harry could not believe that this was the same woman who had been yelling at him not five minutes ago. "So, you just want to be my… buddy?"

Harry smiled. "Yes."

B'Elanna drew her legs up into the chair. "Maybe you could… bring me up to speed on the rules? I mean, better you than Carey."

Harry's face broke out into a grin. "Of course! And maybe understanding the reason for the rules would help?"

"Maybe… You know, I'm not promising I'm going to follow them…" B'Elanna trailed off as her eyes fixed to the bottle on the coffee table. "Is that real? Because I think we are going to need to start drinking if we are going to talk about rules and regulations."

Harry sighed, and reached for his replicated bottle of synthehol.

 _Fin_


End file.
